[Critique Group 2] Emailing: Night War of the Mind- for 6-24-21 Group II critique session/BC

[James]

Night War of the Mind
C By Brad Corallo
Word count 214

The explosions and
 rising, billowing smoke expand,
from tiny atonal rhythmic pulses
to fill my mind with clamorous strife.

The flash-bang grenades,
the Hell Fire missiles
seek their targets.
I cannot sleep
as the war rages on.
I get up and try 
to be somewhere else.
I crawl, silent and furtive
 through rooms of shattered mirrors
which only lead back
to what I am fleeing from,
and tare me with their jagged shards. 

The turmoil and all the noise 
have reduced me to shameless floods of tears.
In desperation I cling to broken memories.
Salvaged
from ruins of the past, unspeakable! 

How have I strayed so far?
Only to reach this perfect position
 where violent solar eruptions 
rain down from every direction.
They burn and blacken
but don't incinerate. 
Though such would be a mercy!

If I wait it out
And manage even a little sleep 
I can indulge a fragile belief

I will stride purposefully through the ash heaps Of morning.
And, with One act of compassion
silence the violent chaos 
of one more consuming night,
that has passed and gone. 

In it's place,
precarious peace balances on  
the honed edge of a tactical knife.
At least for some bless'd,
unknown space in time. 

jamesstarfire at gmail.com  
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